Number of filling stations at record low
Monday 22nd March 2010, 12:40PM GMT.
The number of fuel filling stations has fallen to a record low, it was revealed today.
In the UK, there are now fewer than a quarter of the forecourts that existed in the late 1960s, the survey carried out by the Energy Institute found.
With car ownership across the country continuing to rise, each forecourt now has to supply, on average 3,795 vehicles, today’s poll showed.
The number of forecourts actually rose slightly in 2008, but the total went down from 9,283 in 2008 to a new low of 9,013 by the end of 2009.
This compared with the all-time record number of 39,958 in the UK back in 1967.
The study showed that by the end of 2009 petrol sales totalled 16.29 million tonnes – a fall of 383,000 tonnes from the end of 2008; diesel sales fell 217,000 tonnes to 12.65 million tonnes; and total 2009 road fuel sales decreased to slightly more than 37 million tonnes – a fall of 901,000 tonnes on 2008.
It also showed registered UK vehicles reached a new all-time high in 2009 of 34.21 million.
Supermarket filling sites increased last year by 12 to 1,271 and the five largest oil company operations by number of branded forecourts were BP – 1,179 forecourts, Texaco – 999, Shell – 930, Esso – 900, and Total – 818.
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